18 A New Phased Array Tropospheric Radar Wind Profiler

Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Salon C (Denver Marriott Westminster)
Scott A. McLaughlin, Radiometrics, Boulder, CO; and T. Wilfong and E. Lau

Handout (4.2 MB)

A new lower tropospheric 449-MHz radar wind profiler (RWP) has been developed which can be installed permanently at a fixed site or for portable use on a trailer. The RAPTOR XBS-T uses Yagi antenna elements assembled and cabled at the factory so there is no assembly required for operation for mobile operations. Rather, for trailer operations, the 6-m antenna array and ground plane folds to allow easy transport on a legal-width trailer. For pointing, the antenna is controlled by solid-state phase shifters which allows for 7-beam pointing (6-oblique and 1-vertical) and maintenance-free operations. The antenna is similar to the RAPTOR FBS-ST developed for the NOAA Profiler Network (NPN), but is approximately one-quarter the size. The XBS-T is a sister system of the 915-MHz XBS-BL boundary layer which also uses the same antenna pointing topology. The new system architecture is described and data presented.
- Indicates paper has been withdrawn from meeting
- Indicates an Award Winner